Renewal
by keiiah
Summary: RyoSaku Who would have thought? A little boredom during lunch period brought on surprises that neither of them sensed coming.


I have not uploaded anything in a month.

This is based on the theme given on a community in livejournal.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis.

Ye, enjoy.

* * *

Her class had finished earlier than the other classes. Sakuno walked out of her classroom and headed for the cafeteria. She stopped as she walked passed class 2 of the 1st years. Sometimes, Sakuno wished that she were in that class. That way, she would not only watch Ryoma-kun play tennis, but she could watch him study, too. 

Sakuno peaked from the small window into the classroom. Her eyes scanned around until she found the person that she wanted to find. Ryoma-kun was clearly not paying attention to his lesson. While everyone was looking at the teacher, he was writing something in his notebook. Sakuno watched as Ryoma-kun yawned midway through his writing. The teacher seemed to have noticed and alerted Ryoma-kun. The prince immediately stood up and muttered his apology for not paying attention.

Sakuno giggled to herself silently and moved away from the small window of the classroom. She proceeded to the cafeteria for lunch.

* * *

The cat-eyed boy made a beeline towards the last person in his class. This was the last person in his class that he actually knew. He had never interacted with the left over body of the class, and this meant that he did not know their names. 

Ryoma lightly tapped the classmate's shoulder and asked for a favour. He held out a book, "Can you help me renew this," he said, "please?" Ryoma added some courtesy at the end of his request, in case it helped.

The person shook his head and turned away. Ryoma sighed; he looked around to see if anyone else had possibly claimed recognition in his memory. Everyone was leaving for lunch, and Ryoma had no choice but to test his luck to see if he could find any of his senpais within five minutes.

* * *

Lunch period today was spectacularly long for a girl with long auburn braids. She had very quickly finished eating and wanted to find Ryoma-kun. Usually, she would find him somewhere around the school. She would quietly observe him in the sidelines, and that would make her day. Today, however, she was failing in the search for the prince. 

She had looked everywhere, the classrooms, the tennis courts, the roof, and even the toilets. He was not anywhere, and Sakuno felt confused about this.

How could a person not be somewhere? Unless he had left the school, he had to be around. She even saw him today already…

In desperation to find the freshman prince of tennis, she accidentally collided into someone.

Sakuno backed away quickly.

When she had obtained her balance again, she immediately bowed to apologise to the person she had bumped into. She was terribly ashamed of her clumsiness, her carelessness. Why did she not watch where she was going?

"Clumsy," said the voice of the person in front of Sakuno.

The hazel-eyed girl looked up, startled by the sound she had just heard. Did that voice belong to who she thought it did? Sakuno fixed her gaze at the person. Her eyes widened as she recognised the person.

"R-Ryoma-kun," Sakuno said quietly.

Bumping into any person at anytime, any place, was embarrassing enough already. Colliding with Ryoma-kun of all people was evidently shameful, and clearly humiliating. Sakuno felt a gush of crimson flood onto her face. She looked down and shut her eyes tightly, turning away from the pair of feline eyes staring back at her. She took her first step away from the prince when she was halted abruptly.

A brainwave passed through Ryoma's head. His feline eyes widened for half a second before his brain sent messages to his nervous system. He got an idea. That idea would allow him to be able to reach the coach's office in three minutes. Ryusaki sensei said she wanted a very quick word with him.

He saw the girl leave, and he immediately reacted to it.

"Ryusaki," said Ryoma. Sakuno heard the voice of the prince again. This time, his words echoed in her head. Her own name was repeatedly pronounced in her mind. Sakuno placed her hands on her head and turned back to the prince.

Ryoma presented a book from behind his back. He held it in front of Sakuno, "Can you help me renew this book?"

Sakuno gazed at the cat-eyed boy for a moment, taking in the information that she had just heard.

Ryoma brought the book closer to Sakuno, tactfully insisting her to receive it. Sakuno looked into Ryoma's eyes, and then took hold of the book.

"Ano, you want me to renew it?" Sakuno said, making sure that she had heard correctly.

Ryoma gave a small nod and handed over his library card. He turned away and made his exit, putting his hands into his pockets.

Had he just asked Ryusaki to renew his book for him?

The dark haired boy desperately wanted his Fila cap. He tried his best to look downwards at his shoes while continuing to watch where he was going.

Echizen Ryoma was embarrassed about his actions during the lesson before lunch today.

* * *

Sakuno stood on her grounds, confused by Ryoma-kun's request. Nevertheless, she put as little thought into it as possible, in case she jumped to quick conclusions. 

Sakuno watched as Ryoma walked away. She caught the last hint of his shadow, and then diverted her gaze upon her new direction. She was going to the library.

* * *

Sakuno looked at the book Ryoma trusted her in renewing. It was an English mystery novel. One of those super thick paperbacks with very boring covers. Sakuno knew that Ryoma was very gifted and talented. She knew that he was an ace at English and tennis. Nevertheless, despite her knowledge of the prince, she had not known that he was that good. 

Sakuno opened the book to the very end to see how many pages this novel had. Not noticing that something had dropped out of the opened book, she glanced at the number at the bottom of the page.

"Six hundred pages of English?" Sakuno got slightly dizzy at the thought of Ryoma-kun reading so much. She stepped over something and almost fell over, maintaining her balance with the wall just before she fell on her knees. She straightened herself again and looked down accusingly at the culprit on the floor. The culprit that almost embarrassed her.

It was a small piece of notepaper.

Sakuno picked it up and wondered how it got there. She flipped onto the other side to see if anything was written on it.

The pigtailed girl stood staring at the piece of paper. Her face revealed a slight hint of surprise; her cheeks contained a mild shade of pink. On the piece of paper, was a little doodle of a head. The head had carefully coloured auburn hair and two long braided pigtails. There were arrows adjacent to the doodle, pointing towards the head from every direction. Each end of an arrow had a statement or a short sentence on the aspects of the head featured in the doodle.

After fully analysing the contents of the note, the idea strucked Sakuno that this note belonged to Ryoma-kun, and she should not be looking at it. The faint concept that Ryoma-kun was writing this during his lesson seemed unlikely to her, but if Sakuno knew Ryoma-kun enough, the untidy handwriting and inaccurately written kanji definitely belonged to the prince.

Sakuno looked away from the note and tilted her head slightly as she continued heading towards the library. What did Ryoma-kun drawing a girl with pigtails during his lesson mean? The only conclusion that Sakuno could come up with seemed a little too unlikely for someone like the school's freshman tennis regular to possess.

* * *

The librarian smiled at Sakuno as she handed over the book. Sakuno gave the librarian the library card and the librarian looked up and the hazel-eyed girl. 

"Isn't 'Echizen Ryoma' and boy name?" she asked. Sakuno blinked at the librarian and put the question into sense.

"Ano...I'm helping a friend to renew a book," Sakuno said.

The librarian smiled and scanned the book, "Ah, how sweet, doing a favour for your boyfriend?" the librarian teased Sakuno. A small photo appeared on the screen of the librarian's computer. Sakuno _sincerely_ despised the way computers in the library would show all the information of the person when their library cards were scanned. On the monitor, was Ryoma-kun's information, it included a photo that was taken in the beginning of this school year.

Sakuno caught herself blushing slightly as she spotted the photo. The librarian took the facts in very quickly and grinned, "So it really is your boyfriend."

Sakuno shook her head repeatedly, "No, he's not my…my-" she could not get herself to say the word 'boyfriend'.

"Here," said the librarian as she handed the book back to Sakuno, "have fun!"

Sakuno took her leave, still having the after-effects of the teasing from the librarian. She decided to return the book and that note to Ryoma-kun now. She could not hold possession his things any longer. If she did, she would sit through the next lesson with her cheeks tinted the colour of matured tomatoes. That was not Sakuno's favourite colour, not at all.

* * *

Sakuno peeked into Ryoma-kun's classroom. Her eyes once again, scanned around the room. Ryoma-kun was not in the room. Sakuno wondered where he was before someone tapped her on the shoulder. 

Sakuno spun around and saw the person she was finding standing in front of her. She held the book up to Ryoma, and took the note she found earlier out from her pocket.

"I, ano, found this," said Sakuno, "is it yours?"

Ryoma looked at the piece of notepaper placed in front of him with bewilderment. His eyes revealed a short flash of embarrassment, which was hidden within the next second. He quickly snatched the piece of paper, and took hold of the book.

The freshman walked passed Sakuno and took the quickest way possible to his desk in the room. He shoved the book into his desk and forced the note deep into his pocket.

Ryoma stood still for the next minute, allowing an overwhelming silence to submerge between the two. The classroom was rather empty. There were only two other people in it, and they were quietly reading in the sidelines, minding their own business.

In this case, there was no noise. Sakuno could hear Ryoma-kun breathing. It was an uncomfortable silence.

Luckily, Ryoma decided to break it.

"Sankyu," he said quietly. He quickly retreated away from his desk and left the classroom, lightly brushing pass Sakuno as he went by her again.

Sakuno watched him go; her eyes followed his face as he briskly exited the room. Whether it was her imagination, or that her eyes were playing tricks, she thought she captured a moment when Ryoma-kun's cheek emitted a very slight shade of light pink. Sakuno argued with herself that Ryoma-kun was moving so fast, maybe it was just an illusion.

Did Ryoma-kun blush?

Sakuno analysed the reasons behind the blushing. Did Ryoma-kun blush at her actions?

The hazel-eyed girl returned the legendary blush of the prince's with another blush of her own. She gazed at the empty doorway of class 2. Could it be?

She shut her eyes and shook her head, denying the possibility of Ryoma-kun doodling in class. She also denied that Ryoma-kun was doodling about her of all people. Maybe there was another girl named Ryusaki. A girl much prettier than her, that outshone her so much that Ryoma-kun could not possibly notice the humble and shy little Sakuno.

Moreover, the best explanation for Ryoma-kun's light pink face would be that he was just feeling stuffy. Maybe that was the reason why he left the room.

She decided that reasons did not matter. Now that she had a basic idea of what Ryoma-kun did during his lessons. Maybe she did not need to wish that she were in his class anymore.

* * *

-End-

* * *

Did you like it? 

I know I know, there was no fluff. P

I was given the theme 'Renewal' and decided not to write about Sakuno's renewal of her heart and desires and all that mushy stuff. It was too common. You know - Sakuno was tired of Ryoma's bratty attitude and decided to renew herself- that sort of plot outline.

Therefore, I presented another way of renewing. You know - library books. I asked many people what they thought of when they saw the word 'renewal'. Besides renewal of a person, people thought of library books.

Here's the fic. I hope you liked it.


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